Body to Pan Threaded Plate Replacement

[RONIN10]

On the front passenger corner of where my body mounts to the pan is two bolts which thread into a floating plate to help clamp the body down. As you can see if the photo below, the bolts are frozen with rust. I've tried putting a bolt extractor on them, but 40 years of rust accumulation seems to hold them better. As you can see I have a chunk of heater channel to repair as well, but my main question is how best to access the threaded plate area.

My initial thinking is cut an access "door" in the firewall and reach in with long pliers to fish out the plate. But where best to cut that door or is there some other method?

Going to bed, but I'll respond to suggestions in the morning.

Thanks in advance!
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Andrew

Oscar: 1976 Westfalia Deluxe Camper, 2.0L FI, Manual Transaxle

[dirtkeeper]

Is that a bug or a bus?

I wouldn't worry about a couple broken or missing bolts too much. One of my bolts in that location is broken along with a few others on the body pan. No signs of separation after 25 years....much of it off road


Now that rusted mess may need a little attention

[RONIN10]

It's a bug my son and I are restoring. I drive a bus personally.

If it were only one of the bolts, I might be inclined to let it pass, but of the four (two on each side) there's only one I can remove and install a new bolt into. And yes, the rust repair is part of this job.

I took a quick peek at it again last night after posting and it looks like the bracket is contained inside the Napoleon hat so my earlier thought that cutting through the firewall and fishing out the old bracket wouldn't work as I'd still have to cut through the top of the Napoleon hat.

I see two access options going forward:

1) cut out the rusty crud in the forward section of the heater channel, then cut into the rearward side of the Napoleon hat to access the plate.
2) cut out a rectangle on the underneath side of the Napoleon hat (i.e. a little bit beyond the inner and outer ends of each of the bolt holes). The bad plate should fall straight out.

I'm leaning towards option 2 as it seems like it would best preserve the structural integrity of the Napoleon hat, but welcome any insights from anywhere whose done this or something similar before.
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Andrew

Oscar: 1976 Westfalia Deluxe Camper, 2.0L FI, Manual Transaxle

[beetlenut]

You didn't tell us what year and if the bug was a super or not. In the picture you posted, the broken bolts are hanging out of the bottom side of the firewall, which is part of the body. They bolt the body to the pan by passing up through the Napoleon's hat, which is part of the pan. So you need to get the nut plate, shown below, out of the firewall.

Since you have to cutout the rusted front rocker/heater channel right up to the firewall to replace, that would be the time to cut into the firewall to get the plate out. You could go in from the side that will be covered by the new front rocker/heater channel, yellow circle area. When replacing the front firewall, the nut plate is usually put in from the side like in the picture below.

I replaced both front heater channels, Napoleon's hat, and front firewall, so there's more pics in my gallery.

Good luck.
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scrapyards are for quitters
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[RONIN10]

Sorry. 1969 Standard.

I see better from the photo. I hadn't thought that through correctly...for some ridiculous reason thinking the upper surface of the Napoleon hat formed the base of the firewall when it obviously stays with the pan.

So back to my original plan: cut access hole in firewall and fish out nut plate.
_________________
Andrew

Oscar: 1976 Westfalia Deluxe Camper, 2.0L FI, Manual Transaxle